The Importance of Materialism in Womenhood

Our transgender comrades are under attack — not just by incendiary reactionaries on the right, but also by many of those on the more liberal or even left side of the political spectrum. The attacks come in many forms, from outright violence, to genocidal language, to the often arbitrary and reactionary demarcations around what constitutes "womanhood," to the "just asking questions" industrial complex led by liberal institutions like the New York Times.

In this episode, we explore a robust rebuttal to anti-trans and transphobic narratives and actions — from an explicitly Marxist perspective. And we've brought on the perfect guest to lead us in this.

Alsyon Escalante is the co-host of Red Menace — a podcast that explains and analyzes revolutionary theory and then applies its lessons to our contemporary conditions. The conversation we're going to have is inspired by a cross-over episode of Red Menace and Revolutionary Left Radio titled, "Our Transgender Comrades: Dialectical Materialism, Marxist Feminism, and Trans Liberation."

The first half of our conversation with Alyson focuses on that episode and lays out a theoretical rebuttal of liberal, bourgeois, and radical feminist approaches to feminism and gender. We lay out a principled Marxist, materialist analysis of gender and 'womanhood' and how they differ from post-modern and idealist conceptions.

The second half of our conversation brings the discussion back down to eye-level, and explores the current political, social, and economic realities faced by trans people and why it's more important than ever for us to stand in solidarity with our transgender comrades and to fight against the reactionary right and their liberal accomplices.

Thank you to Against Me! for the intermission music and to Carolyn Raider for the cover art. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond.

Resources:

• Red Menace and Revolutionary Left Radio
• Upstream: Revolutionary Leftism with Breht O'Shea (In Conversation)
• Upstream: Feminism for the 99 Percent

Editor's note:

A member-organizer with the Freelance Solidarity Project (the digital media division of the National Writers Union) and one of the co-authors of the NYT contributors' letter wrote in with a small correction: "I wanted to flag that the initial labor support for the letter came from Freelance Solidarity Project members—the Writers Guild is great and members signed their own letter in support of trans people as part of a broader solidarity effort. The NYT staff are also represented by The NewsGuild of New York—the letter defending signing as protected activity was by NewsGuild of NY President Susan DeCarava."

This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky.

You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.